


Those who still need protecting

by virtualinkstamp



Series: The Recall [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Flashbacks, Generalising of plot, I tried real hard, Multi, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, i spent way to much tiem on the wiki getting thi time line, mention of other overwatch agents, no shipping really, unless you count ana marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 21:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13039536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virtualinkstamp/pseuds/virtualinkstamp
Summary: Ana disappeared for a reason but it's time to step out of the shadows and protect those who she loves.A story of what happened to Ana after her disappearance and how she reacts to Winstons recall.(Part 1 of a Recall series)





	Those who still need protecting

**Author's Note:**

> I really like making headcanons about family relationships and how weird little things get sorted out so enjoy.

It had started as a technical glitch. After the destruction of the swiss base, she couldn’t help herself. The media didn’t cover enough details and she had to know if it was true. If Jack and Gabriel were really gone. Although no doctor she knew how strong the SEP had made them both and her gut told her they were still out there. The Aftermath of the destruction made her confident that any surveillance on her previous home had lessened enough for her to return. 

The time window was so small she daresn’t stake the house for too long. So she watched her old home through the scope of her rifle for an hour or so before gently slipping down the fire escape of the building she had been stationed at. Confident she would appear as a simple pensioner out for a stroll she took the most direct route. She tucked her rifle awkwardly under the ragged material of her cloak unable to shake the vulnerable feeling she had without it in her hands. The block of apartments hadn’t changed much in her absence. The paint was still the same pale shade and the fence post a drunken neighbour had accidentally bent four new years past had yet to be fixed. Despite the familiarity, she felt incredibly distant from the place. She knew this wasn’t her home anymore and sense of not belonging was almost palatable. The sniper entered the building easily, she had been prepared to climb the balcony but had found the outer door propped open by a brick. A resident stood to one side of the path taking small puffs on a half-smoked cigarette. Anxious about being recognised she pulled her hood lower and gave a simple nod of hello. The tenant ignored her and although rude she was glad of his dismissal. She was blending in. 

Wanting to avoid as many cameras as possible she took the stairs but midway through the third stairwell she decided to give her knees a rest and ride the elevator to the seventh floor. She had to look after her legs, there were no biotic fields waiting for her after the mission. She approached the apartment more cautiously. She knew it hadn’t been resold, she had seen her old furniture and belongings through the window during her surveillance. She no longer had her door key but she found the key box Sam had installed for when she first moved in. In case of a surprise visit, he had explained. As she punched in the pin, the last 4 digits of her Army number, she swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. They’d never managed to have a surprise visit. 

When she entered the apartment, it became clear who had inherited the place. Basketball shoes at the door, a leather jacket on the sofa, action movie data disks piled by the TV. Fareeha had never been a messy child and this had extended into adulthood it seemed but Ana still found herself having to restrain from tweaking and tidying the apartment. Somethings never change.

She was surprised to find her bedroom mostly untouched, it seemed her daughter had opted to remain in the smaller second bedroom. Although far from bare there weren’t many personal items in the room. When Ana first moved in she had opted to keep most of her belongings with Sam in his small house in Toronto. In her later years, the apartment had been more of a stop off point between missions and a sort of starter apartment for Fareeha. She was glad of this unsure if she’d have been able to resist taking some of her more sentimental belongings. It wasn’t them she had come for and the less she removed the less suspicion she’d raise. Her tablet was where she had left it. Out of power but in the nightstand draw. She hoped Fareeha wouldn’t notice it’s absence. After stashing the electronic in her bag she forced her self to leave, she didn’t have time to reminisce or check further on her daughter. However she didn’t make it to the exit, her egress was paused at the hallway table. A hollo disk stood centre stage on the surface top. Ana’s fingers gently pressed on the button and she was rewarded with the crystal clear hologram of her daughter. She must have been no older than eight years old in the image. Ana couldn’t recall when the capture was made but timeline whys it must have been during Overwatch's Hay day. She slipped the device into the bag next to the tablet. Sure that Fareeha would notice but unable to stop herself from the self-indulgent action. 

Once removed Ana noticed the ornament was being used as a paperweight for a thick brown envelope. She didn’t need to open it to know it’s content, She recognised the thick font and logo of the Egyptian army. The sniper felt her mouth pressing into an ugly flat line as she recalled the last conversation between herself and her daughter. Fareeha was joining the military, set on following in Ana’s footsteps and the idea had panicked Ana. She’d hoped Fareeha would stay out of fighting, away from the pain that it caused. But it seemed her daughter had a sense of duty. Which if Ana was honest with herself had been her doing. Raising the child amongst Overwatch agents inspired courage, a strong sense of self, and ultimately the need to do good, no matter the risk. Fareeha had gone to bed curtly once they’d finished the exchange and Ana left early in the morning. There was never the chance to take back what had been said. 

With no other pauses, Ana left the apartment, boxing the painful memories and feelings neatly in the back of her mind, awaiting the one day when she was ready to address them or preferably forget them. Her new assets added little bulk to her inventory but she took the elevator again none the less.   
It wouldn’t be until she reached her hideout and logged onto the tablet that she realised the value of what she had just acquired. After her disappearance Overwatch had indeed presumed her dead. They’d held a funeral and an empty grave was made in Toronto for Sam to visit. When an agent dies their profile is archived and all their active sessions on the Overwatch network are terminated. All Overwatch files are then remotely deleted from private tablets and computers. Except hers hadn’t been. She was able to log on; to access files. After months of shifting she would find the emails that made this possible. Jack, Reinhardt and strangely enough Torbjörn had insisted that until her body was recovered she be marked as Missing in action. Missing not Killed. The change meant her profile remained open and, it seemed, working. She was unable to see active missions; their content being classified to everyone but those involved but when these missions were completed and their reports archived her clearance level allowed her to view them. It was through these archives she pieced together bit by bit what had happened in her absence. 

When the mission reports stopped coming in she feared her browsing had been discovered. The last report explained everything. A debriefing of all Overwatch personal. The organization was to be shut down and all activity ceased. The UN had made the decision that Overwatch was no longer a viable peacekeeping option and the New Petra’s Act banned all activity in the organization's name. The watch points were to be abandoned, sold on, or to be put under the protection of private security firms. She assumed after this her profile would be deleted permanently. But once again she was surprised by her friends’ insistence on keeping part of what they had alive. Winston left a small file hidden amongst the bulk of debriefings. He was copying the archive to his private files and would keep Athena running at watchpoint Gibraltar (Seemingly unsure what to do with the Gorilla the UN allowed him to stay at the facility). Eventually he planned to launch a satellite drone into orbit and get the Overwatch communications back up and running again but for now, all he could do was stall the shut down of the system. Ana was impressed with how long the ape had managed to fight the UN, she had a whole weeks’ worth of access to the files before eventually everything was taken offline. Her research in this time was calculated and practical, she only looked at what happened to the other agents and how notable assets were divided up. 

Angela, Reinhardt, Torbjörn and Lena had been allowed to keep their main equipment pieces but prototypes and unfinished work were seized by the UN and handed to Helix Security International. It was in looking at these files she discovered a gun she’d briefly discussed with Angela. A Biotic rifle. ‘only intended to be used for healing’. The phrase stuck with her. For months her Kinamura had been feeling heavy in her hands. There was simultaneously too many and too little notches on the gun. By the time the archive was taken down she had the location and details of the watchpoint the biotic rifle was stored at. 

After the incident in Giza, she compared her own infiltration with Jack’s. In typical Morrison fashion, he’d caused quite a scene, a big contrast to her own stealthy retrieval. In Jack’s defence, he didn’t have the inside information she had acquired and he always was a little more straightforward with his plans. When she told him about her access to the archives he laughed, commenting that she always found a way of making things work. The rest of their conversations were just as easy. It seemed that both her and Jack wanted to avoid any potentially sore subjects. It limited the pool of topics, yes, but by now both were used to sitting in silence. A habit acquired from their time travelling alone. The majority of their exchanges were of where they were going and what or who they were looking for. Ana rarely asked why Jack chose a target. She knew he had his reasons and her aim was to protect him. He was her family and even if she couldn’t be there for the rest she could keep him alive. 

They were following a lead on former Overwatch higher up, who, by what had Jack mentioned, was part of Petra’s inner circle. It was during the stakeout phase that she got Winston’s message. Her tablet hadn’t logged into the Overwatch system in over half a decade so when it started pinging she jumped. It took a moment for her to realise her crosshair was trained on her own backpack. Hand trembling she retrieved the electronic from the bag. There blazen across the screen was a large Overwatch symbol followed by a simple phrase. Overwatch Recalling. With a calloused finger, the sniper pressed the touchscreen. A small paragraph explained that Overwatch was being recalled back into active duty, written in prose that couldn’t belong to anyone but Winston. The tablet prompted her to join an active voice call and she instinctually switched the tablet off. She didn’t know what the recall would mean. Who would come back? What would the new Overwatch be like? Or more importantly Was it her place to return and would she be welcomed? Would Jack?

The ex-strike commander wasn’t with her at that moment. He was out on a supply run getting food for the rest of their stakeout. Would he go back to Overwatch? He’d mentioned his aim was to track down those who’d corrupted Overwatch and she couldn’t see a recalled Overwatch prioritising this or even condoning these at all. So she left the tablet untouched. She didn’t say anything to Jack at all.

It was when Talon attacked the museum that Ana knew she would have to tell Jahim. She wasn’t ready but he would know. He wouldn’t press her but he would know and somehow that was worse. So she booted up the tablet again. It was different this time, the recall was still there and the voice call button still lit in the top right but now there was a video. Her mouth became dry as she watched the message. Although she’d seen the newscasts of Winston it was different to see him again so casually. He stumbled awkwardly through the first half of the message, until eventually giving up and speaking off script. The world was in trouble, it needed help and Winston wanted to recall Overwatch to help. It seemed cruel but Ana felt numb watching the video. Everywhere in the world was in trouble in some shape or form. Overwatch had caused its fair share of ‘trouble’, her old rifle bore enough marks to testify to that. But one of Winston’s phrases stuck with her “they tore our family apart”. 

She thought about this for a long time… Who tore them apart? When did they break away? When she left Fareeha to go on that final mission? When she decided to remain dead? Or was it earlier than then? When Jack was given his promotion and Gabriel started becoming distant or was it when Amélie was kidnapped? Was it Talon that tore them apart? Brainwashing Amélie, ultimately murdering Gérard. Or The UN who disbanded Overwatch forcing the team apart. 

Was it Petra? Jack seemed to think so, somehow he and other higher-ups had something to do with Overwatch’s demise. She couldn’t answer these questions but by the end, she was sure of one thing. It didn’t matter. No matter what caused her to leave, or what broke them apart they were still family. Jack, Fareeha, Sam, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, McCree, Angela, Genji and countless others were her family. Even Gabriel and Amélie, whatever they had become now, were her family and she had to protect them. For years she had hidden in the shadows ashamed of her downfalls and shortcomings but it was time to start fighting again. For real this time, for all that she had lost there are still people that need to be protected. 

She wrote a letter first. It was addressed to Fareeha, she owed her daughter this. For her to be the first to know. It was vague, painfully so, but she couldn’t risk or bring her self to be more detailed. She apologised and explained best she could. She thought about rewriting the letter but in the end decided the raw message would have to do. 

Jack was more difficult. She approached him after nightfall. “Jack?” She found her voice surprisingly soft.  
“Ana?” He had spoke back his pale eyes looking more grey than blue in the pale lighting, as he lifted his gaze up from the horizon. More hesitant than ever she clenched her teeth.  
“Overwatch has been recalled.” 

He lowered his gaze once more, Shadows hiding his expression. After a short pause, she continued.

“ I hope to join them…To protect them.” Ana lifted her own eyes to the landscape, admiring the twinkling lights of a midnight Cairo. 

“ Overwatch is dead. There’s no bringing it back.” His voice wasn’t spiteful just matter of fact. Edged with sadness.

“ You think I don’t know this?” She asked, similarly factual. “What we had is gone but our Family isn’t, Jack. What we learned isn’t dead nor the reasons we joined Overwatch. I miss my Daughter, I miss our friends. And I can’t hide anymore, not when I know they're going to be in danger. When I know I can protect them.”

Ana left him after that, a brief touch of her hand on his shoulder and she took to her bedroll waiting for him to wake her for her watch. He didn’t in the end and when she woke she was alone. It was hard to swallow the crushing sense of abandonment but she did it none the less. Her morning was sombre but purposeful. All her gear was packed up and her route to the Mediterranean planned. Just as she started to leave he returned, His mask equipped and expression unreadable.  
“Your right.” He said simply and they set off together towards the watchpoint.

**Author's Note:**

> This is real self-indulgent but if you liked it too I'm super glad! I'm hoping to write more about other characters. I have a few ideas for different characters but if there's a particular person you'd like next please feel free to comment below. For now enjoy.


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